Uber Is Testing New Fees For Tardy Passengers

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: April 27, 2016

27 comments

I use Uber on a near daily basis, and if I had one complaint about their UberX service (at least in LA), it’s that I wish they’d charge more. I know that sounds backwards, but when I’m paying only a third of what a taxi costs, I feel like I can only have really low expectations of safety, comfort, and the condition of the car (the phrase “you get what you pay for” comes to mind).

So I’m all for Uber doing things which improve the bottom line for their drivers, so that it avoids silly things like them soliciting cash tips, which they’ll soon be allowed to do.

Uber has generally been a pretty anti-fee company, but they’re testing a new program which potentially adds fees for tardy passengers.

According to TechCrunch, the new program is being tested in New York City, New Jersey, Phoenix, and Dallas, so that Uber can evaluate the results and decide whether to expand it further.

Under Uber’s current system, riders have five minutes after requesting their rides to cancel them, without incurring any fees.

Here are the changes that Uber is testing:

Charging cancellation fees two minutes after ordering, rather than five minutes after ordering
If the driver has to wait for more than two minutes, they can start charging the per minute waiting fee; if the passenger cancels 2-5 minutes after ordering the Uber they’ll only be charged the per minute cost for them waiting, while if they cancel after five minutes they’ll be charged the full cancellation fee

.@uber reduces the amount of time before you can cancel without a penalty: From 5 min to 2 mins. REAX? pic.twitter.com/d8emKWUlDg

— Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) April 26, 2016

I actually think the new cancellation policy is very reasonable. It’s not fair to an Uber driver when they’re driving towards you for almost five minutes, and then you change your mind. You should know within two minutes of ordering whether you want to take an Uber or not.

Uber charging fees after waiting for two minutes is a slippery slope, given how terrible the Uber app’s time estimates are. In other words, if the app time estimate says the driver will be there in 10 minutes and then they end up being there in five minutes, is it fair that they start charging at seven minutes? While I think there are logistical issues with this, the concept still makes sense to me, as so many people are disrespectful of Uber drivers’ time. Whether or not this is the exact solution remains to be seen.

Either way, we’re not talking about big money here. For example, in LA the per minute waiting cost is 15 cents. So if you make them wait for five minutes, that will cost you 75 cents.

UberX-Fares-LA

Bottom line

Up until now Uber has been extremely consumer friendly, almost to a fault. I’m curious to see how this market test ends up doing, and if they expand it.

What do you think of these proposed Uber fee additions?

(Tip of the hat to Travel Codex)

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Maykel Mendoza Guest

May 6, 2016, 9:57 pm

Im sorry to be so blunt, but nobody is making sense here. The truth is, every driver should "CALL" the passenger once they are arrive. This lets the passenger know they should start walking outside, and gives them enough time to do so. I do agree with the change, because in my case as a driver, I call all of my passengers when I arrive, so there is no excuse to be late. If the passenger takes over 2 minutes to go outside after we have spoken and established that I am physically there, then they should be penalized. Apparently those drivers you guys are talking about dont know how to perform their job correctly. Neither the drivers or the passengers should depend on the application for time estimates. There should be good verbal communication between driver and passenger from the initial request. If there are issues with drivers nit speaking English, then Uber should use bilingual only drivers, depending the location of the city. Stop complaining so much. Its already enough that Uber prices are so low, while the drivers do everything with higher standards than Taxis.

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Maddie Guest

May 1, 2016, 4:12 pm

On top of that, I've had Uber drivers show up nowhere near where I requested them, making it take well over 2 minutes for me to get to the car once they "arrive." 5 minutes I can maybe see, but 2 minutes is ridiculous.

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TJ Guest

April 30, 2016, 1:56 am

Like others have said, is crap for the passenger to be charged a late fee when the driver picks up down the block. The app allows the passenger to enter a specific address, so as is, it sucks to have to trudge down the road to get into the car because it wasn't convenient for the driver. Note: I've been on crutches for a few weeks and it's happened a few times. I contacted Uber, and they were sympathetic and credited me, I still see this being problematic with a shorter wait time when it's the driver's fault.

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Randal L. Schwartz Guest

April 29, 2016, 11:00 pm

Uber support has a full log of exactly what happened (when you request, when accepted, route the driver took, etc). If you cancelled for many of the reasons listed above that clearly make it the driver's fault, and then email them if you get charged, they are *really* biased towards customer satisfaction, and will easily refund your fee within a few hours. I've never failed to get satisfaction this way. Now, if you're gaming the system by requesting then gambling on surge falling, or hoping for a sooner arrival, I'm happy they'll be charging you more now. Seriously. You ruin it for people like me who use the provided service.

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Mike M Guest

April 28, 2016, 11:17 pm

Have you used Uber in NYC? Many drivers can't or "won't" find you. Rather, they get within a block or two and send you a text to find them!?! Uber plans to charge me for that service. Lyft here I come.

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